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RESULT | Dismissed

Client was accused of assaulting his wife after he admitted to pushing her up against a wall. She then grabbed a knife and came after client and he used his hands to disarm his wife. She followed him to another location of the house and client had a video of wife threatening to stab him. After litigating the admissibility of the client's admission that he pushed his wife, admission to pushing the wife was deemed inadmissible. After this ruling the prosecutor dismissed the case.

RESULT | Dismissed

Client was accused of assault by woman who had since left the country. After reviewing the evidence that remained in the case, Jennifer Horwitz concluded the case against her client could not be proved and set the case for trial. After outlining for the prosecutor the deficiencies in the case, the prosecutor dismissed the case.

RESULT | Dismissed

Repeat client whose domestic violence case was previously dismissed, hired Jennifer Horwitz a second time when his same girlfriend accused him of assault for a second time. After reviewing all of the evidence, it was clear that the client had locked his girlfriend out of the house because she was intoxicated and out of control and that no assault took place. Someone who saw the girlfriend walking around in their yard crying and intoxicated called the police. The girlfriend was angry about having been locked out and said the client assaulted her. After presenting all of the evidence to the prosecutor, the prosecutor agreed it could not prove an assault had occurred and dismissed the case, even though this was the second time this woman had alleged an assault by the client (the first case was also dismissed).

RESULT | 10-Year Protection Order with anti-defamation and other provisions granted and criminal charges filed against Respondent

A woman broke up with her boyfriend and asked him to move out after he recorded her without her permission. The ex-boyfriend then began stalking the woman through various means and attempting to harm her business relationships. The ex-boyfriend manufactured evidence and threatened to report to the police that the woman had lied under oath about his having recorded her without permission. This threat was used to bully the woman into not pursuing the protection order she needed. After petitioning for a protection order and presenting evidence of the stalking and showing that the ex-boyfriend had manufactured false evidence to try to bully the woman out of pursuing the order she needed, the court granted a 10-year protection order with several non-standard conditions to protect the woman. The prosecutor's office was then convinced to file criminal charges against the ex-boyfriend.

RESULT | Unanimous vote for release by Clemency Board

A man was convicted of his third strike in 1994 under the "Three Strikes You're Out" law passed in Washington in 1993. He was drug addicted and had committed a string of robberies by pretending to have a gun in his pocket. In reality, he had no weapon and none of his victims were injured, though he pushed one onto the ground in a robbery where he grabbed her money bag as she was on her way to make a deposit at the nearby bank. The man was convicted of his third "strike" offense and was sentenced to a life sentence without the possibility of parole. After filing a clemency petition on the man's behalf and presenting his case to the Clemency Board, the Board unanimously voted to grant the man early release.

RESULT | No Charge Filed

A woman who was under investigation for fraud was ultimately not charged after the defense did its own investigation, which revealed that the woman’s husband had forged her signature and defrauded the woman out of money. The husband was indicted and convicted for fraud but the case against the woman was not charged.

RESULT | Not Guilty at Trial

A man was convicted of manslaughter and was ordered by the Court not to be in possession of a firearm. Years later, he was stopped by the police while driving in his car and a gun was found hidden under a seat. As a result, he was charged with being in unlawful possession of a firearm. His defense was that shortly before the stop he and his girlfriend had switched cars and that she had left her gun in his car without his knowledge. The man was found not guilty after trial.

RESULT | Not Guilty at Trial

A devoted family man with a loving wife and children was charged with raping a teenage girl. The children in both families had been friends for years and the allegation was a shock to everyone. Investigation revealed that the girl had lied to the police, lied about being pregnant and had previously lied to others about being pregnant to get attention. After a two-week long jury trial, the man was found not guilty.

RESULT | Dismissed

A young man was charged with selling drugs to an informant working with the police. After several motions to get the police department to provide information about the informant and unsuccessful attempts to interview the uncooperative lead detective in the case, the Court granted the defense motion to dismiss.

RESULT | Dismissed

A man was charged with hitting his girlfriend and causing serious injuries. Defense investigation revealed that the man had been injured first and very seriously by his girlfriend and that it was he who had called 911. The defense documented his injuries and retained an expert to testify that his injuries were life-threatening at trial. At trial, it was revealed that the prosecution had lost the 911 tape which showed that it was the man who contacted the police for help. After convincing the court that this was a legitimate self-defense case and that a critical piece of evidence had been lost, the case was dismissed.

RESULT | Dismissed

The police were called to an apartment by a neighbor who heard yelling coming from an apartment and became concerned. The police knocked on the door of an apartment and saw a man in the apartment and a woman in bed covered by a sheet. When the police spoke to the woman, they saw she was injured and had been drinking. She indicated the man did not cause the injuries but that he had pushed her. The police were concerned about the presence of a sword in the apartment, though there was no allegation the sword had been used in any way during the incident. The case was set for trial, witnesses were interviewed and the case was dismissed prior to trial.

RESULT | Not Guilty at Trial

A woman was charged with negligent driving after speeding and driving over the lane marker. The prosecution argued that alcohol had caused the driver to drive in a negligent manner. Cross-examination of the police officer revealed that the road the woman was stopped on was a “speed trap” that had a very low speed limit for a seven-lane road. The defense called witnesses who established that the driver was receiving a shocking piece of news from a passenger just as the “bad driving” occurred. The jury concluded that the driver was momentarily distracted but not driving negligently and found the woman not guilty.

RESULT | Dismissed

A man who in the middle of a divorce had the right to have visitation with his children. The mother was attempting to alienate the father from his kids and no longer wanted the father in her life or the life of the children. When she could not achieve this goal through litigation in the family law case, the woman manufactured a reason to seek and obtain a protection order. She then falsely reported a violation of the protection order and the man was charged with that crime. The defense gathered a large amount of information that called into question the motives and credibility of the woman. The defense convinced the prosecutor that the woman was not credible and was likely making the criminal complaint so that the Court would agree that the man should not be able to visit with his children. The prosecutor dismissed the case.

RESULT | Dismissed

During an acrimonious divorce, a woman accused her ex-husband of violating a protection order. In actuality, the woman had been harassing and stalking the husband and others associated with him. After compiling a packet of information regarding the ex-wife’s activities and submitting it to the prosecutor with a persuasive letter, the prosecutor decided to dismiss the charges against the man, indicating that she had been persuaded that the alleged victim had credibility issues.

RESULT | Dismissed

A woman was accused of assaulting her child’s father by pushing him backwards toward or into his car during an argument. The argument occurred because the father did not make it clear to the woman where the child was. The accusation of assault by the father of the child arose simultaneously with the end of the relationship between the woman and the child’s father and a custody battle over the child as well as arguments over the division of assets between the couple. The defense brought some issues to the attention of the prosecutor about the allegation and prior allegations made by the father of the child that raised some questions about his credibility. In the meantime, the family case was resolved by a family law attorney with some requirements of the woman that addressed the prosecution’s concerns about the woman. The criminal case was dismissed.

RESULT | Not Guilty at Trial

A hard-working, law-abiding man was charged with assault for disciplining his teenage step-children at their mother’s request. The man used other progressive forms of discipline before resorting to hitting the children with his belt. Despite photos showing injuries to both teenagers, the man was found not guilty because the jury agreed that he was using reasonable parental discipline.

RESULT | Dismissed

A woman, her partner and their adopted son traveled to Seattle for a sporting event. At the event, the woman found herself in a confrontation with a male spectator who summoned security. As the woman was being dragged away from the event by police and security, she questioned their handling of the incident. Subsequently, the woman was charged with assaulting an officer and resisting arrest. The defense conducted investigation and presented a witness who indicated no crime had been committed. In addition, the defense presented information to the prosecutor about this woman, who was a pillar of her community and who was in the process of adopting a second child. The prosecution agreed to dismiss the case.

RESULT | Dismissed

A woman and her son were confronted by a state park ranger after they took their dog off his leash so the dog could swim. The ranger scared the woman in his confrontation with her by asking for unusual information and by telling her she had to follow him down a secluded path at the park. When the woman refused to follow the ranger out of fear, he accused her of assaulting him and obstructing. The defense located witnesses to the incident as well as a witness who had another scary experience with the park ranger and presented this evidence to the prosecution who agreed to dismiss the case.

RESULT | Dismissed

A man came to the United States to join his family after years of waiting to be granted entry as a permanent legal resident. He did not speak or read English, but was working in his brother’s store cleaning and doing odd jobs. The man had not yet received training on how to avoid the sale of alcohol to minors because he was not yet proficient enough in the English language. The man was temporarily left in charge of the cash register at the store while his brother stepped out with the understanding that he was not to sell alcohol or tobacco. Unbeknownst to the man, his brother had reorganized the store just days before and had moved the alcoholic beverages to a cooler that previously only contained juice. An underage woman working with the Liquor Control Board took a can of beer out of the cooler that had previously only contained juice and approached the cash register. The man did not recognize the can as a beer can and sold it to the woman without checking her identification. He was charged with Furnishing Alcohol to a Minor. The state has a policy of not dismissing such cases because there is no requirement that the person intend to sell alcohol — if a person sells alcohol to a minor they are guilty. However, the defense was able to persuade the prosecutor that this situation was different and that, as a matter of fairness, the case should be dismissed.

RESULT | No charges filed

A woman was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury in a sex trafficking case. Because of her own possible exposure to being charged with a crime, she asserted her right to remain silent and refused to testify, even in the face of the prosecution’s threats to charge her if she did not cooperate. The defense assessed the situation and did not believe the prosecution’s threats that the woman would be charged. She did not testify and was not charged with a crime.

RESULTS | No charges filed

A woman took in a girl and man who were traveling together. The woman did not know this, but the girl was a minor who was being victimized by the man who was acting as her “pimp.” The girl had told the woman that she had left an abusive home and was on the run to stay safe. When authorities investigating whether the girl was a victim of sex trafficking came to speak to the woman, she lied to authorities and claimed she had not had contact with the girl. The defense showed prosecutors that the woman believed she was protecting the girl and that she was especially vulnerable because of her own history of abuse and a head injury which had affected her decision-making ability. Based on this information, the prosecutors declined to press charges against the woman for making a false statement.

RESULT | Dismissed

An informant working for law enforcement misidentified a man as having been involved in drug dealing. The defense was able to show the prosecutors that the man had an alibi for the time he was allegedly at a drug deal and that he was not the person who had met with the informant. The informant then admitted to the prosecutors that he had misidentified the man and the case was dismissed.

RESULT | Prevailed and No Order granted

Later, when the same woman brought a protection order petition for the protection of one of the children against the man, counsel persuaded the Court that the woman was using the court system to further harass the man. The woman’s petition was dismissed and the court assessed additional costs against the woman.

RESULT | Prevailed and Order granted

A woman was stalking and harassing her ex-husband and those around him and claiming that she was actually the victim. There was a long history between the two and stacks of emails, text messages and other proof of the woman’s longstanding harassing behavior. Counsel for the man persuaded the court that the woman was the person doing the stalking and harassing and obtained an order for the protection of the man. The Court denied the woman’s request for mutual orders and assessed costs against her.

RESULT | Prevailed and No Order granted

A man sought a protection order against a woman. The woman was in the middle of a contentious divorce with the man’s father and argued to the Court that the motivation for seeking the order was retaliation against the woman. The Court was persuaded that no order was needed to protect the man from the woman and no protection order was issued against the woman.

RESULT | 2 Year Anti-Harassment Order obtained to protect victim

A young woman in high school was being stalked by a prior acquaintance who was an older man. He was showing up at the park near her house and her school. The young woman was afraid of the older man because he seemed to have mental health problems and was saying irrational things to school officials. The young woman and her parents wished to obtain a protection order against the older man so that the police could arrest him if he continued to stalk her. Not only did the court grant a protection order, but it issued a two-year order after being convinced that the standard one-year order would not offer sufficient protection for the young woman.

RESULT | Reduced charges and treatment

A young man allegedly assaulted his father by choking him, which was charged as a felony. The juvenile had substance abuse and mental health issues that had not been fully addressed. In this case, the defense was able to convince the prosecutor to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor and family and individual counseling for the young man were put in place by the Court at sentencing. In a second case, the young man was accused of showing up at his counselor’s office and threatening him with a weapon. The defense was able to resolve the case without a long jail sentence by getting the juvenile accepted to the CLIP program (Children’s Long Term Inpatient Treatment) to deal with his mental health and substance abuse issues, which the Court agreed were at the root of his criminal conduct.

RESULT | Diverted and Dismissed

A young man was charged with reckless burning for damaging some school property. The prosecutor’s office originally was unwilling to offer diversion, which is an option for a first offender where the case is ultimately dismissed upon completion of certain conditions. A barrier to resolving the case in this manner was a large amount of unpaid restitution for the damage. Defense counsel worked with the family and school district to figure out the amount the district paid to repair the damages and get the school reimbursed by the juvenile’s family. The case was then accepted for diversion and was ultimately dismissed.

RESULT | Not Guilty at Trial

A young man was charged with second degree assault for displaying a knife to a mother and daughter. Cross-examination of the witnesses revealed that the knife was displayed in self-defense after the duo yelled racial slurs and hurled rocks at the young man. Based on this revelation, the Court found the young man not guilty because he had acted in self-defense.

RESULT | Charges not filed

An argument broke out between family members at the graveside of someone in the family who had passed away. A woman’s father-in-law accused her of assaulting him even though she was the one who had been injured in the confrontation. The woman’s father-in-law was angry because he was in the middle of a divorce and the woman was supportive of her mother-in-law. After presenting evidence of the woman’s injuries to the prosecutor as well as information regarding her father-in-law’s stalking and victimization of her mother-in-law, the defense convinced the prosecutor that it should not bring charges against the woman, who was a mother with no prior criminal history.